Dec 14, 2017 03:39 PM
1691 Views
Cannot believe that a company of such repute can be so unprofessional when they are in this business for quite a long time.
I wanted to get some blood tests done for my parents in Goa for several parameters including fasting blood sugar, Lipid profile and several others. Looked at the SRL website and spoke to their toll free number call centre to executive named Jyotsna on 12th December evening at about 3.45 pm. I first asked her whether they have home sample collection service in Goa to which she replied in the affirmative. I asked her for the pricing and she gave me details on each test and the price. The total amount worked out to be Approx Rs. 4800 and she also confirmed that there are no extra charges for home collection( How very wrong). I asked her to put this on e-mail for my records and confirmed the appointment for 8.30 am on 13th December. She said she will send me the e-mail with cost breakup. I did not receive anything for next one hour and dialed their toll free number asking for the e-mail with cost breakup and confirmation of appointment. This time it was another girl on call and she said the details will be sent later and appointment is confirmed!(There was so much of background noise at the call centre making me wonder whether this is SRL call centre or some bus stand or railway station!) I mentioned to her that I wanted to make the payment online and asked her to share the account details to which she put me on hold to consult with her seniors and later informed me to make payment on their website on payment link; which was non-existent for appointments booked over phone! I received an e-mail around 6 pm with price breakup but no confirmation of appointment. I later received 2 SMS' from SRL mentioning a 4 digit code to be mentioned to the sample collection guy if he is on time. I assumed with this that the appointment is confirmed. I waited for contact details or response from their local agent for taking blood sample but there was no call from anyone even the next morning. Part of tests was lipid profile and fasting blood sugar which needs the patient to stay on empty stomach for 12 to 14 hours. My parents followed this but there was no response from SRL or any sample collection technician till 9 am in the morning.
This was utterly disappointing and unpleasant experience for me with SRL. I then took my parents to a local SRL laboratory to perform the tests nonetheless as they were fasting and got the tests done with samples collected on 13th December and report received on 14th December i.e today.
And a bigger surprise, the cost quoted by SRL call centre was Rs.4800 whereas the walk in charges at their laboratory were only Rs.2400 for all these tests! Half the price that it!
Lesson learnt, never ever use SRL Lab for booking home collection of samples to be left at mercy of their call centre and coordination which is callous and careless and most importantly visit the laboratory directly if you want to save your hard earned money by getting a 50% discount against SRL quoted prices directly!
It is already 2 days after they confirmed an appointment to me, but till today as I write this, there is no communication whatsoever from their side as to what happened to the appointment. I also sent them an e-mail on 12th December to which there is no response as well!
Stay away from SRL home collection service and never approach them directly.
